October is the New January

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By Brianne Miller, Senior Counselor
Ah, October.  Falling leaves, plump pumpkins…and the month that’s notoriously known for being the busiest of them all at LCI.  It seems like every year (and I’ve been here for A LOT of them) the month of October is chock full of product launches, client events, new campaigns and revised analytics. In between conference calls and somewhat warm pad thai that I found in the office kitchen, I gave some thought as to why October is the new January.
Location – here in San Francisco, our “summer” starts in September. While global warming has reduced our “down parka required” summer evenings a bit, anyone who’s been here for more than a couple of years (known around here as a “native”) looks forward to the warm days of early fall. That means that outdoor events (Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, Fleet Week, Bridge to Bridge Run), the big society galas (San Francisco Symphony, our clients MoAD and Art Silicon Valley/San Francisco) and tech gatherings (Dreamforce, Apple announcements) all schedule between mid-September and early November.  Add in our wine country “crush” season and you know why it’s hard to get a flight or hotel room.  As the Bay Area gets busy…so do we.
Holiday Season – we abide by the Christmas-in-July tradition for media relations. Any of our clients that have products relative to holiday gifting are ready to plan and pitch starting in July.  As the holiday season gets closer and closer, media lists increase to include shorter lead outlets (print, broadcast, online) and digital ad plans are tweaked almost daily. Come October 1st, we’re ever-so-slightly sick of the holidays.
Budgets – clients adhere to a January – December fiscal year, making October prime time for planning.  That means we’re investigating new ideas, putting proposals together and brainstorming for 2016. All that thinking means our donut budget also increases…
So here we are in early October and I’m starting to sprint to November 1st.  Anyone else tired already?!
When is the busiest time of year at your workplace? Leave a comment below or email Brianne [email protected].

5 thoughts on “October is the New January”

  1. Brianne – our busiest season seems to be – all the time now. We have the great SF Bay Area economy to thank for that as well! Cheers, David

  3. We’re right there with you, Brianne! Living and working in San Francisco does indeed have its own set of challenges — and rewards. I feel so blessed to work here and would take our oddities over some others we could have any day!
    David

  4. We’re only a few days in and already October has been hectic, but when you enjoy the projects you are working on it makes it a lot easier!

  5. You said it so well, Brianne! Luckily we have terrific clients and equally terrific colleagues, so the work is enjoyable and a sense of teamwork always makes for lighter work when there are multiple deadlines to meet. Oh, and that delicious Pad Thai definitely helped – thank you David and Sean! – Jennifer

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